Waste pipe cleaning apparatus



June 17, 1941. M. RAPPAPORT WASTE PIPE CLEANING APPARATUS Filed May 16. 1939 VI/llllllnllIII/[IM 1N VEN TOR. Mae/s E/QPPAPo/QT ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 17, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WASTE PIPE CLEANING APPARATUS Morris Rappaport, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application May 16, 1939, Serial No. 273,829

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for cleaning waste pipes and the like and. has for one of its objects the provision of an improved apparatus of simple and practical construction wherein the cleaning wire, commonly known as a plumbers snake may be conveniently and compactly stored preparatory to feeding the same into a pipe and for rotating said wire should it be found necessary todo so when passing through elbows or loosening obstructions in the pipe.

The above or other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the pipe cleaning apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section therethrough taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 3, and

Figure 3 is an end elevation partly broken away and shown in section.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawing the apparatus is shown as comprising a supporting frame consisting of an elongated tubular bearing 4 which has bosses 5 extending from opposite sides thereof and adjacent its ends, and in which are secured the upper ends of the front and rear supporting legs 6 which maintain the apparatus in a substantially horizontal position when the same is resting upon a support.

Rotatably mounted in the bearing 4 and projecting beyond the ends thereof, is a sleeve member 'I on the forward end of which is secured a collar 8 which will abut the adjacent end of Isaid bearing, and through which extends a set screw 9 utilized to clamp the flexible cleaning wire Il) in the sleeve 1 when it is desired to rotate said wire.

The rear end of the sleeve 'I has suitably secured thereto a conical housing generally indicated by the numeral Ia which is adapted, to enclose the wire I0, and from which said wire is fed by hand through the inner open end of said sleeve 'I and from thence into a pipe to be cleaned. The housing Illa consists of the front and rear walls Il and I2, the latter of which is provided with a central opening I3 of sufficient size to permit access to the interior of the housing to manipulate the wire if necessary. Upon the front wall I I adjacent the rear end of the sleeve 1, there is formed on said wall a series of spaced angular wire-binding elements I4 in the form of lugs which entered away from said wall and which are concentrically arranged with respect to said sleeve.` The wire, upon being fed outwardly from the casing and through the sleeve, will frictionally engage one of said elements I4 which will prevent kinking of the wire during a feeding operation, but such frictional engagement will not be suiiicient to affect the free feeding of the wire. The engaged element I4 also acts to bind the wire and hold it stationary relative to the sleeve 1 and housing Illa when the latter two elements are rotated to, in turn, rotate the wire I0 should it become necessary to cause the forward end of the wire within the pipe to loosen an obstruction or force the same through a bend or elbow in the pipe. Should the binding action thus produced be insufcient, the set screw 9 may be tightened against the wire,as shown in Figure 2. To facilitate rotation of the sleeve 'I and housing Illa, the latter is provided on the exterior of its rear wall I2 and adjacent the periphery thereof with a bracket I5 to which is secured a handle I6 that may be grasped to rotate said elements I and Illa, in

, a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 3. The periphery of the housing II is provided at intervals with openings I1 which not only ventilate the housing, but also provide the means for securing the extremity of the wire I0 to said housing by passing said eX- tremity through one of said openings as indicated at I8 in Figure 3. 'Ihe wire I0 is coiled within the housing Illa in a single series of convolutions and after said wire has been withdrawn for a cleaning operation, the same will recoil within said housing, in the manner shown, when forced rearwardly through the sleeve l.

What is claimed is:

A rotatable housing in which a pipe cleaning wire is adapted to be coiled and from which said wire is capable of being fed when cleaning a pipe, said housing having a wire outlet in one wall thereof, and a series of spaced Wire-binding lugs arranged about and adjacent said outlet and extending in directions substantially away therefrom, said lugs being arranged and adapted to abut the Wire to impart axial rotation thereto when said housing is rotated, but which the wire may clear when it is manually moved into and out of said housing.

MORRIS RAPPAPORT. 

